Wall Street analysts have been foaming at the mouth since Apple announced it would be discussing its Q1FY14 financial results on January 27. Record holidays have become the norm for the company, but with two new iPhones released last fall, this one is expected to be over the top.

How much over the top? Well Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty says she believes Apple may have sold between 54 and 55 million iPhones last quarter. That would be a new record for the company, and a nice jump from the 47.8 million handsets it sold over the holidays last year… Read More

Despite there being no product nor confirmation from Apple that it will offer one, a high-profile Apple analyst is estimating the iPhone maker could sell between five and ten million iWatch units in the first year. According to Piper Jaffray Gene Munster’s survey of 799 U.S. consumers, some twelve percent of U.S. iPhone owners said they might pay $350 on Apple’s watch, if it materializes.

Although Apple’s iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c don’t hit shelves until tomorrow, we already have a glimpse into how the new smartphones will boost sales. Judging by pre-sales that began last week, Apple could see a 28 percent jump in fiscal fourth quarter sales, according to one Wall Street observer.

In a note to clients yesterday, a Morgan Stanley analyst said the two handsets could propel iPhone sales of 34.5 million phones during the fiscal fourth quarter, up from 26.9 million units during the same period last year… Read More

When Apple’s iTunes Store debuted on April 28, 2003, it launched with zero customers. Today, Apple has more than half a billion iTunes accounts. While not every account holder gives Apple his or her credit card details, most do. Therefore, it’s fairly safe to assume that Apple with its online-only content store is the biggest seller on the web.

Indeed, an analysis by Morgan Stanley reveals that not only is iTunes second only to Facebook’s one billion accounts, it also makes more money per account than Amazon. More interesting factoids follow… Read More

Android smartphone makers have been doing it for years: controlling a market using inexpensive handsets to outnumber the more expensive iPhone. But when the idea that Apple should also produce a more affordable and contract-free device first appeared, a hue-and-cry erupted as if the next MacBook was to be powered by Windows 8.

Now comes calmer heads – ironically from Wall Street – showing Apple’s gross profit margin would increase by six percent because more people will buy the Apple smartphone if the company lowers the cost of owning an iPhone.

That’s right, all the hand-wringing going on about a less-pricey iPhone being suicide for Apple’s bottom-line could be all wrong… Read More

Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty was visiting Hong Kong and Taiwan recently. She is now back from China with some interesting Apple news. Tim Cook & Co., she wrote in her note to clients, may be close to striking an iPhone distribution agreement with China Mobile, the world’s top wireless carrier by revenue and subscribers.

Specifically, Huberty wrote that “TD-LTE licenses, and related phone launches, are expected by year-end,” in her note to clients. China Mobile debuted small-scale TD-LTE network in 2010 and last year expanded coverage to select large cities. In case you were wondering, TD-LTE is a variant of the fourth-generation Long Term Evolution radio technology, also known as LTE… Read More

A well-known Wall Street Apple observer expects Apple’s manufacturing partners to start producing multiple new iPhone models in June or July, with the new smartphones introduced around September.

While the analyst note meshes with today’s report of Sharp gearing up to begin mass production of the iPhone 5S screens next month and other reports mentioning multiple iPhones on Apple’s roadmap, what’s perhaps most interesting is word that any drop-off in iPhone demand seems to be over.

And in her additional remarks bolstered by others, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty tells investors Wednesday that Apple could sell many iPhones in China even if the device were not priced cheaply… Read More

Morgan Stanley’s resident Apple expert Katy Huberty appeared on CNBC’s Fast Money Halftime Report this morning, in a rare TV interview, to field questions on her firm’s current positive buy ratings for both HP and Apple.

Asked about Apple, Huberty—who has an overweight rating on the stock with a price target of $630—says the company is poised for a big year with new software features for the upcoming iPhone, including one ‘killer feature.’ Read More

After meeting with Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer recently, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty issued a report proclaiming so-called budget iPhone a no-brainer. Huberty joins what is now a growing list of analysts calling for such a device so Apple could better target emerging markets where cash-strapped folks mostly buy unlocked sub-$200 handsets – unlike the United States where carriers subsidize smartphones handsomely.

Thanks to these generous subsidies, US consumers don’t pay full price for the hardware – provided they agree to a long-term service agreement, of course. Now, with the penetration level for the iPhone approaching a limit in the high-end segment, the untapped low-end represents an estimated $135 billion opportunity.

Even with Apple’s margins peaking, an iPhone mini – as the media dubbed it – should triple Apple’s addressable market in China and add nearly $2.4 billion to its handset business… Read More

The iWatch, a rumored Apple smart watch, and the iTV, a rumored standalone Apple TV set, may be just vapourware for the time being, but that’s not stopping analysts from guesstimating what the two gadgets might contribute to Apple’s bottom line.

Per analyst Katy Huberty, assuming annual sales of 50 million units and an average selling price between $200 and $300, the iWatch could drive an incremental $10 to $15 billion in revenue, or $2.50 to $4.00 in per-share earnings, each year. Dick Tracey’s futuristic wrist watch has nothing on it… Read More

Apple’s 10-Q filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission shows purchase commitments for the March quarter dropping from $4.5 billion two quarters ago to just $904 million. Of course, two quarters ago Apple was ramping up iPhone 5 production and investing heavily in then new in-cell touch displays. Still, that’s a huge drop.

One clever interprets this data point as a sign of the iPhone 5S not needing new manufacturing processes, in turn proving it’s gonna look just the same as the current-generation iPhone 5. Notable changes will be from the inside, like the speedier CPU/GPU, better cameras and what not. Man, I should have been an analyst… Read More

In the latest round of ‘is the iPad mini a cannibal?’ we go to Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, who told investors the concern is “overblown.” Huberty says nearly half of the 7.9-inch tablets are bought by new customers. While the Morgan Stanley AlphaWise survey also found slightly fewer purchases of the iPad mini are by new tablet owners – suggesting the small tablet is taking a bite out of larger iPad sales – the risk is “manageable”, the analyst said… Read More

Here’s something to chew on as another Wall Street voice chimes in on the possibility of an Apple-made television set. In a survey, 47 percent of consumers say they are interested in an iTV with about the same number willing to pay more than a thousand bucks to put an Apple logo in their living room. Perhaps most intriguing is how one analyst opens the door to an iTV without the headaches of licensing content.

According to the survey by AlphaWise and Morgan Stanley, eleven percent of US head-of-households polled said they were “extremely interested” in an Apple television, with 36 percent “somewhat interested.” The 47 percent of interested consumers is greater than the number of people who were interested in the iPhone and iPad, when those Apple devices first entered the American conscious… Read More